


late night in twilight

by rivtco



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Kingdom Hearts III, Spoilers - Kingdom Hearts III, roxas is here but only barely!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-28 08:37:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17784119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rivtco/pseuds/rivtco
Summary: Xion had a bad dream, and Lea found out.





	late night in twilight

**Author's Note:**

> this a self indulgent fic but found families are my jam. more than that. they're my whole sandwich.

The small house in Twilight Town was silent when Lea opened his eyes. The ever-present warm light peeked into his room around and through the not very effective curtain in its way, and in his sleep he’d rolled over to a splotch of light, which had nudged him awake. He lazily opened his eyes and let out a soft grunt as he shied away from the bright light. Lea then rolled over on his back and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds, then at the clock on the left of his bed. Had Twilight Town been a regular world, the Sun would not have risen yet, and thus he would be justified in going back to sleep. As he thought of doing exactly that, he heard the slightest hint of a noise coming from outside his room, from the hallway. He slowed his breathing for a few seconds and listened intently, and doing so, he could tell that what he had heard were footsteps, though very quiet, and now growing lower and lower in volume.

Lea glanced at the clock again, and frowned. Were it either Xion or Roxas (which he hoped it was, because otherwise that meant some stranger had gotten in, and that would obviously not be great), it caused him unease to know they were up this late. It was typical teenager behavior to do so, he knew, but they weren’t usually the type of people to do that. They weren’t the usual type of teenager, after all.

Concern pushed aside any desire he may have had to go back to sleep, and with as much grace as it would be expected from someone awake at that hour, he rolled himself out of bed.

 

He was as silent as he could in his journey to the living room, where he guessed the person had gone to by how the noise had faded earlier. Lea entered the room and looked around, though the first one to react was Xion, who was laying down on the couch and, by the small ‘oh’ of surprise she let out, was not expecting someone else to be awake. Her reaction snapped Lea’s attention to her, and his expression softened.

“Hi, Xion,” he greeted, his voice quiet as to not disturb Roxas’ sleep, but gentle as it always was when it came to these two.

“Hi, Lea,” Xion took a moment before she responded, averting her eyes as she did so, which got a frown out of him.

“What’s up?” He asked, his tone now more serious, as he walked across the room and gestured towards the couch. Xion promptly folded her legs as to give room for Lea to sit down.

“Nothing much,” she said, eyes now fixated on the ceiling. Lea let out an inaudible sigh at that.

“Then why are you awake? Sleep’s one of life’s biggest joys, you know,” he gave her knee a small push to emphasize his point, and waved his free hand as he spoke. It got a little giggle out of her, and Lea smiled at that.

“I don’t know, just had a bad dream,” she spoke, and sat up with her legs crossed facing her friend.

“Then you do know,” he said. She paused for a moment, then agreed.

“I guess.”

Xion gave no sign of elaborating, looking down at her hands and thus avoiding Lea’s eyes yet again. He could tell something was bothering her deeply, the lack of her usual chirpiness left a gaping hole in the atmosphere, and it made Lea uncomfortable.

“Well?” He turned so he was facing her, putting one of his legs on the couch and crossing it over his other, and waited until she looked up at him to continue speaking. “What’s this bad dream business about?”

The question looked as if it had physically hurt Xion, as she frowned and lowered her head. In the silence, Lea tilted his head slightly to encourage her to speak up.

“It’s kinda dumb.”

“I don’t care if it’s dumb, I care if it’s making you sad,” he said, poking her forehead as he did so. “I don’t want to let some nightmare ruin your night. Or day, for that matter.”

She sighed.

“I just... I dreamed that I was here, in Twilight Town, but I walked around and no one was there, it was like... abandoned,” she frowned as she recalled those memories, bringing her hand to her chin, “then at some point I figured I should go to the clock tower, because we’re always there, and I wanted to see someone.”

Lea nodded as he followed along, and Xion seemed to start having more trouble recounting the dream, evidenced by her pause and how her hand dropped to grip her other arm. When the silence went on for too long, Lea let out a questioning hum, prompting her to continue.

“I got there, and I saw you two, you and Roxas. And I tried to say something but I couldn’t speak. You two were hanging out as usual, with ice cream, and chatting like normal, but I couldn’t join or say anything. Then I tried to touch Roxas’ shoulder to call his attention, and I woke up.”

Lea frowned when Xion finished her story and leaned her head on the couch’s back, eyes the saddest he’d seen them since their reunion.

“I see,” he said while he processed the information, not to let the silence hang on, “And you couldn’t sleep again.”

She nodded.

“Yeah, it’s... it doesn’t leave my mind. I don’t know. I had you two there, but I couldn’t say anything. You were... I don’t even know if you noticed my absence. I don’t know,” she trailed off.

Lea himself had to avert his gaze this time; it pained him to see her this way. Though simple, it was clear the dream had taken a toll on her, and he couldn’t blame her in the slightest. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked at her again. Giving her a light tap on the forehead to call her attention, he spoke up.

“What matters now is that that’s not reality. Me and Roxas are here, and we sure as hell remember you, and won’t forget any time soon,” he said, pushing away the memories of... not having memories of her. He didn't comprehend how he could ever have forgotten Xion, memory shenanigans be damned.

She then gave him a smile that warmed his heart.

“I know, that’s why I called it dumb,” she said, “You two are here, and nothing can take you away from me now.”

He smiled back, and put his right foot back on the floor, leaning back against the couch, as if recovering from the subject. Feigning a more carefree mood that he was currently in, he spoke up again.

“You can’t get rid of me even if you want to,” he said, eyes on the ceiling as he joked, “You and Roxas are both stuck with me now.”

He heard a giggle, and unexpectedly, felt something on his shoulder. It took him no time to see Xion had snuggled up on his right side and made of his shoulder a suitable headrest.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way, Lea.”

He felt a warmth in his chest again, seeing Xion like that. They had truly come so far, so many struggles, many caused by the organization, and all of them had failed to keep them apart, even after cruel fate was determined to stop Xion from... _being Xion_. Lea, then Axel, would have never thought he would become so attached to a couple of lost teenagers thrust into this world without guidance, but he couldn’t be happier he was assigned to babysitting duty on those fateful days. Sharing ice cream with his best friends was something he’d never trade for anything, now. Lea felt a knot in his throat, and with a small sigh aimed mostly at himself, he wrapped an arm around Xion’s shoulders, welcoming her to be as comfortable as she wanted, and she nudged his arm with her head and closed her eyes, resting peacefully. So peacefully, in fact, that it made Lea suspicious she was falling asleep.

“Hey, I’m not your pillow,” he said, with no hint of annoyance in his voice.

“Are now,” she chirped, and nuzzled him as she wrapped his arms around his torso and essentially treated him as a big plushie.

It may have been due to his lack of proper sleep, but seeing that sharpened the hurt in his throat, though it was in no way unwelcome. The situation was almost funny, in a way. When he first met her, he would have never thought Xion would be so comfortable with him to display affection towards him so blatantly, and never he would have thought he’d be so fond of it it brought him near to tears. Never again would they let go, not the universe, not fate or destiny itself could rip this warmth from them; no one was taking his kids away from him again. He lifted his hand that was previously perched on her shoulder and placed it on her head, gently petting her hair as she grew closer to sleep.

“Lea?” Her voice was quieter, and her eyes kept closed.

He hummed in response.

“I love you. You and Roxas. I don’t think I ever got to say it back then,” she said, “but I do now.”

He paused, as did his hand on her head. The dumbest smile was on his face, though Xion couldn’t see it. In the few seconds he was quiet, he played those words again and again in his head. This was real, against all odds. Finally, he sighed, and feeling his eyes watering in the sheer joy he was feeling he moved his hand back to her shoulder and rested his head on hers instead.

“I love you too, Xion,” he said, closing his eyes, “and you and I can say that as many times as we want now.”

She hummed in agreement. Lea felt a tear finally escape his eyes, and was quick to use his hand to wipe it off. Still, Xion, sharp as usual, must have figured it out from his movement or his wavering breath, because she was quick to accuse him.

“Are you crying?” there was a hint of worry in her voice, and she tried to her up from her position, but Lea nudged her back.

“No,” he lied, not really expecting to get away with it.

“Lea...” Her voice was pained. He chuckled.

“It’s good crying, Xion,” he said, “It’s the best kind of crying.”

As he said that, tension seemed to release from Xion’s shoulders as she nuzzled him again. Quiet settled in, and this time it had no sorrow with it, instead just pure comfort. Xion’s grip around his torso loosened as she drifted closer to sleep, and he lifted his head off hers and leaned on the couch’s back again, as to not disturb her. Before she fell asleep, she let out one last happy sigh, and he said one thing as good night.

“I love you,” he said, again, because he could, and he did.

“I love you,” she responded, with no hesitation.

 

Hours later, Roxas would wake up to find his family snuggled up on the couch, both sat up but peacefully asleep and using each other as a source of warmth. Roxas would smile, then, and appreciate the moment for long seconds. He loved them, he loved them so much, and he had missed them. He’d smile at their sleeping forms and go get his breakfast as quietly as he could, not daring to break the moment.

He loved them, and they loved each other, and he knew they loved him too.

 

**Author's Note:**

> lea is a proud father of two


End file.
